Keith Jackson makes the most of his late season debut, picking up his 2nd checkered flag in just his 5th start.

(Martinsburg, West Virginia) Keith Jackson’s 2016 win total now stands at two after picking up the victory in the prestigious Red Nininger Memorial this past Saturday at Maryland’s Hagerstown Speedway. Prior to his Nininger Memorial win, Keith had only made four 2016 starts; all with good amount of success. Despite the late start, the 25 year old pilot was fast right out of the box, picking up a June 9th Appalachian Mountain Speedweek series win at Hesston Speedway in his 2016 debut. In between wins, Jackson has tallied a 5th (Hesston) along with a 7th and a 4th at Hagerstown, supplying the team with confidence and encouragement for the remainder of the season.

With the sun shining brightly this past Saturday, the Keith Jackson Racing team decided they would remove the roof and head north to Hagerstown Speedway to participate in the 25 lap “topless” Red Nininger Memorial, which would see the winner take home a cool $2,500 for a nights worth of work. The Ernie D’s Enterprises/Reliable Painting Inc., MBH Race Car was fast right out of the trailer and after timing second quick in his group, Jackson would easily win his competitive heat race. A heads up start would put the Penske Race Shocks/Leggett Engine Research mount on the pole and Keith would never look back while fending off the challenges of runner up Gary Stuhler and others over the 25 lap distance around the big half mile. The win was Jackson’s 5th career Super Late Model win at the historic Maryland speedway.

“It was a great night for us” Said Jackson Monday night when reached by phone at his race shop. “I really need to thank everyone involved. We decided to bring out our 2015 MBH car and Billy (Vacek) helped us with a few changes to the chassis and Jim (Stevens) has tried some different things with the shocks and the car has been great to drive. We won at Hesston right out of the box and have gotten it better every week at Hagerstown. It really meant a lot to win this race, growing up I heard stories of Red Nininger and certainly knew he was one of the pioneers of racing in our area. To pull into victory lane beside his restored race cars was a pretty cool deal. I really want to thank Glenn (Nininger) and his family for organizing this race every year. It is a special race and one we circle on our schedule at the beginning of every year. To make it even better, I love racing the car topless, letting the fans get a little better view of what we are doing in the cockpit. Rick (Leggett) had the motor tuned perfectly, I had all the power I needed for the track conditions and our Penske shocks are second to none. About mid way through last year Josh (Hartman) came onboard and his help and what he has brought to the team is immeasurable. We are a small team that has one car & engine and without the help of all these guys I couldn’t race. I hope the fans continue to come out and support their local grass roots racing. Without them we wouldn’t be able to do what we love” added Keith.

Keith Jackson Racing will take the July 4th weekend off to spend with family & friends on the river. Family takes precedent when it comes to racing and that along with Keith’s busy work schedule will keep the team running a limited schedule throughout 2016. Look for the team to race when and where it makes financial sense. The next planned races for the 11J will be the Hagerstown/Winchester Shootout on July 8th (Hagerstown) and July 9th (Winchester).

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